How to use the Hopin Backstage powered by StreamYard

StreamYard is the easiest way to create a professional stage experience for your event.

With the acquisition of StreamYard by Hopin, organizers will be able to quickly access advanced video production features for their events through the event dashboard.

To get started,

• Go to the Event Dashboard > Venue > Stage
• Under Broadcast Studio, select StreamYard Backstage. Note that selecting the StreamYard Backstage creates a new backstage link for the event and if you were already using the Hopin backstage link, it will no longer be accessible.

• Click the ‘View StreamYard Backstage’ button. This will direct you to the new backstage where you will be required to allow access to your mic and camera.

• The next step is to check your camera and microphone. You can also make use of the ‘mute’ and ‘Stop/Start Cam’ buttons.

• You can go on to explore the settings option by clicking on the ‘Cam/Mic’ button on the right. This option allows you to set up your camera, audio, and green screen.

With the camera option, you can select your camera and resolution. The audio option allows you to select your microphone and speaker. The green screen option allows you to set up virtual backgrounds for your event. Note that enabling the green screen feature uses more computer resources than other features.

• Select your display name and enter the broadcast studio.

How to use the StreamYard Broadcast Studio

Once you enter the StreamYard Broadcast Studio, you will see the following areas.

1. Clicking on the StreamYard/Hopin logo takes you to the reception page of the event. 
2. This is where your stream will be shown on the backstage and how it will look on the main stage.
   You can choose different video layouts as listed in the options below.
3. Your video card will be shown at this portion of the backstage. You need to click on the video card here to add the video to the main stream in number 2. 
4. This gives you options for turning on/off your mic/cam, sharing your screen or a video file on your computer, copying the broadcast studio link and returning to the main event. 
5. On the tab at the right side, you're able to use the chat area, add banners to the stream, choose from branding options, access the private chat area and access the settings page of the broadcast studio. 
6. This allows you to access the chat area of the broadcast studio. All chats from the broadcast studio are automatically transferred to the main stage of the event. You can also show comments on the main stream by clicking on the comment on the broadcast studio.
   
7. Click the Go Live button to begin broadcasting to the main stage of the event. Note that there will be a 10-second delay to the stage. To stop the broadcast, simply click the Stop Broadcast button.

Note: only Organizers will be able to use the Comments area to send messages to the Stage. Speakers will not have this ability.

Also note that the StreamYard Backstage does not have a fully-integrated activity panel. This means that Polls and Q&A are not accessible through the StreamYard Backstage. In order to use the Polls and Q&A, you will need to open up an additional window of the front-end of the Stage.

Note: It is important that you mute the second tab of the front-end of the Stage if you are also inside the Backstage to avoid echo and sound feedback from one tab into the other. Double-click on the tab and select Mute. For more information, you can see our guide Echo in Sessions or Stage.

How do I share content?

You can share pre-recorded videos or slides and presentations without having to screenshare. 

1. Inside the studio, click the "Share" button. 
   • If you would like to share a pre-recorded video, click Video file, then select the file from your folder on your computer (MP4 and MOV files). It will automatically be added to the stream (unless you disable this in settings). You can pause, play, scrub through it, and change the layout!
     
     
   • If you would like to share slides or a presentation, click Slides. You can follow the instructions outlined in this guide for more information.

You can also utilize the Video Clips feature to easily share videos that are under 10 minutes in length and 200 MB in size. If you have a StreamYard Business plan, these limits are increased when using the StreamYard Studio (not the Backstage within Hopin). You can see more details in StreamYard's guide Adding videos to your stream.

• Click the Brand tab.
• Under Video Clips, click + Add video clip to upload.

• Hover over the clip and click + Show to add the clip to the stream.

• Hover over the clip and click + Hide to remove the clip from the stream.

What happens if the Studio is full?

When the StreamYard Studio is full and someone tries to join backstage, they will see the following message:

While the host will see a message that looks like this:

Removing someone from the studio

In order for someone else to join your studio when it's full, the host will have to remove a guest from the studio. To remove a guest, click the 3 dots on their webcam card and click Kick From Studio. Then additional guests can refresh the page to join your broadcast.

If you choose to Ban from the studio, however, you will be asked to require your guests to authenticate. This way, they will have to log in using YouTube and Facebook so then you can ban specific accounts from joining BackStage.

Visit the StreamYard Backstage FAQ for more information.